Summer Slam review

In a true example of how unpredictable and sometimes illogical professional wrestling can be, on just a week's notice, the great Pat Maclaughlin sent me a text and asked if I would want to take the trip from the steel city into enemy territory of Cleveland, Ohio to see Summer Slam live at Browns stadium. After I had the chance to attend Summer slam in Detroit last year with one of my wrestling pals, Rob Brown, who is one of the key members of the Mike Sorg production team that films many of the independent cards that I usually do commentary for around Pittsburgh, I knew that the stadium atmosphere was a very unique experience and didn’t mind venturing into hostile territory to attend Summer Slam live for the second year in a row. On top of that, Wrestle Con was running that weekend, as well as a Game Changer Wrestling show the day before the WWE pay-per-view. I plan to write an article discussing the GCW show later this week.

Since Pat got the green light from the Triple H of the family, Mrs. Mac, we decided that it would be a fun wrestling trip so Friday afternoon, Pat and I departed western Pennsylvania for the two and a half hour journey to Cleveland. All things considered, it was a relatively uneventful ride, except for the fact that I probably talked way too much and ranted about the current state of some of the wrestling business. After we checked in and grab some food, we ventured to the Masonic Temple in Cleveland for GCW. While It was a rather nondescript building on the outside, it was a very neat venue inside as it appeared to be a concert hall when it wasn’t housing mayhem, with balcony seating and stage that led to the ring.

As mentioned, GCW will be an article of its own so let's jump to Saturday morning when we arrived at Wrestle Con at the Cleveland Marriott for the convention. I have to be honest, I didn't know how big the hotel was going to be, but it was impressive that the set up was more than enough to accommodate the albeit somewhat scaled down convention compared to the super show that the High Spots website usually organizes for Wrestlemania season. Despite the fact that another major convention was booked for North Carolina the same weekend, Wrestle Con still had a stacked line-up with over two dozen legends booked to sign autographs and take photos. Thankfully, I had the chance to meet the majority of the stars on the list because to say that this convention was expensive would be somewhat of an understatement. Ron Simmons, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Arn Anderson, and Tommy Rich were all very polite. It was a really fun experience to meet them and it was a very cool addition to the weekend.

This might’ve been SummerSlam, but prior to the kickoff, it resembled a human royal rumble as an army of wrestling fans as far as you could see flooded toward Brown stadium. The city had several blocks shut down to traffic so when a Lyft driver appeared not to have any idea how to navigate the situation, Pat called an auditable and we decided to walk with the rest of the wave of fans toward the football venue. Even though walking isn't usually my strong suite, like a true fiery baby face, I made sure I could get to the building to attend the pay-per-view for the prosperity of pro wrestling. Thankfully, we found our particular entrance rather quickly and made it inside the stadium but another battle royal of wrestling fan traffic waited inside the corridors of the stadium. On one hand, it’s somewhat of a claustrophobic experience being sandwiched into the space, but on the other hand, it’s an impressive slight to see just how packed and thus how much of a draw the pay-per-view is on the WWE calendar. Eventually, we found our seats on the upper level of one of the end zones and had a decent overview of the ring, as well as the entrance way. Speaking of which, I must say that one of the most impressive aspects of attending this event live was the visual of the stadium and the spectacle after it got dark and the set illuminated the presentation.

In an effort to provide the perspective of the live attendance and to make sure to note the important details, I actually watched the show on Peacock when I returned home. The chatter online suggested that Rhea Ripley had a legitimate shoulder injury prior to the bout at the PPV, and that appeared to be accurate, as they didn't so much stall with the cat and mouse spots earlier in the opener on the card for the Women's title, but you definitely got the impression that they wanted to physically protect Ripley as much as possible. This match was a lot more smoke and mirrors with the character work sequences, which doesn't always translate in a stadium to the live crowd, than it was in-ring work. There wasn't anything subpar about it, it was just clear that the office looked to minimize the amount of physicality that Ripley had to do for the segment. That said, there was a few portions of the match that somewhat jumped the shark, particularly when Rhea "put her arm back in place" with something from a Mel Gibson spot. In reality, throwing your shoulder against something doesn't put it back into the socket, and the spot has become too cliche to be believable in the modern era. As much as this was a character-based segment, for what they did in the ring, they did it well. It should be noted that the Dominik heel turn got major heat live, and it will probably be one of the memorable moments in Summer Slam history. Sure, it was predictable, but sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer and it worked in this scenario. If there was a downside to this being the opening segment, it more or less made it obvious what was going to happen to the rest of the stable later in the night.

Bron Breakker vs. Sami Zayn was a little perplexing, as it wasn't exactly a squash match, but it wasn't competitive either. Don't get me wrong, I think Bron winning was the right call, and truth be told, Sami is so over that he doesn't need a title to maintain that status, but for two guys that can go bell-to-bell, this five-minute match was somewhat underwhelming. It never got into second gear because it wasn't given enough time to be a rather one-dimensional presentation. Still, Breakker got the win so it was mission accomplished. It would be unfair to make direct comparisons, but I really think that Bron Breakker is a natural and has the potential to be a main event star in the future.

The US title match between LA Knight and Logan Paul was solid. As much as I don't understand the whole "famous for being famous" gimmick that talentless people often use for social media fame, I will give Logan Paul credit, he has done well in the WWE, especially based on his level of experience. I'm still not sure his involvement necessarily brought a new demographic of fans to the product, but the Prime sponsorship alone is valuable for the TKO corporation. Logan did an impressive springboard moonsault to the outside, but it looked like his leg might've gotten caught under LA Knight on the landing. He also had noticeable swelling around his eye, but even after watching the event again on Peacock, I couldn't figure out where Logan might've had a stiff strike to the eye. The usual interference happened before Knight was able to get the victory to win the US title. I'm not sure how much importance the championship will have going forward, but given Knight's popularity, it's possible that the US belt might get more spotlight.

I'm going to keep my thoughts on the Women's title match relatively short, as it was only about ten minutes, and outside of the Tiffany Stratton run-in, it was more or less a TV match in a stadium. I'm sure Nia Jax is a very nice person outside of her television persona, but the only reason that she probably won the title is because she's related to The Rock, who is on the TKO Board. Keep in mind, before The Rock returned to the organization, Nia was released a few years ago, and despite the fact that she hasn't made any improvements to her in-ring work, she got a push around the same time that Dwayne Johnson returned to the company. The Tiffany cameo got a major reaction as the crowd thought that there might be a cash-in, but the crowd was mostly quiet prior to that during the segment. The problem is, the basis for this storyline was that Nia is reckless and sloppy in the ring, and she actual is during matches. The match wasn't anything spectacular and Nia winning almost hinder the momentum of the show.

From here was the meat of the matter so to speak in terms of the major selling points of the event. CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre was arguably the most intriguing bout the company had for this pay-per-view, as at the very least, it appears that there's legitimate animosity between the two during this feud. It's ironic because that theoretically should be the standard for every storyline, but in the modern era when everything is exposed during documentaries and press conferences, it's rare that an angle can make the fans question if there's actually hatred between the performers on the roster. That said, the match was fine, but it didn't exactly live up to the hype of a grudge match, possibly because there's more planned for this storyline in the future, with rumors of a cell match in October. The other possibility is that since it was Punk's first match back from an injury that he returned early from, the office might've wanted to limit the chance of any further injury. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a subpar contest, but they worked a very safe match that was based on the angle, not the action, which is fine. Still, the continuous involvement of Seth Rollins, who became a focal point of the segment, actually took any from the narrative. The heat between Punk and Drew is more than enough to fuel this storyline, the scripting that shoehorns Rollins into it almost makes it seem like the writing team doesn't have anything better for him to do at the moment so he was used as a third wheel in this angle. That being said, the finish was very well done and Drew was a brilliant heel, as he got the bracelet again after he pinned Punk. Considering that CM Punk cost McIntyre the title three times before this, Drew had to get the win if management wanted to get more mileage from this storyline. In truth, if it's paced right, the argument could be made that this feud could have enough steam to be a featured match at Wrestlemania next year.

The World Heavyweight title match was the best match on the card in terms of in-ring quality, and both performers were elevated during this segment. There was a lot of action with a solid pace and hard-hitting strikes. The authenticity that Gunther brings to the table is something that very few other competitors have in the modern era, and the office is making the most of those skills. Gunther's win was the right decision because it puts him in the main event as the champion for Bash in Berlin later this month. We've seen recently how lucrative the overseas shows have been for the WWE, and putting Gunther in this role for the event in Germany can maximize the revenue generated for the company. The only negative aspect of this was that after the Dominik heel turn, the audience was more or less waiting for the Finn Balor interference so nobody believed that any of the near falls were going to be the finish until there was a Balor appearence. Again, it was predictable, but it was the right call. Gunther has a major upside as champion because of his style and believability, but how Preist is booked going forward will be very important if the office wants to continue to elevate his status during a feud with the remaining members of the Judgment Day stable.

Similar to how the audience wasn't invested into the world heavyweight title match until Balor showed up, the crowd didn't believe anything was going to be the finish until there were a series of run-ins, especially after Arn Anderson implies there would be cameo appearances when he talked to Cody Rhodes backstage before the match. The match was fine, but the audience knows the playbook for The Boodline matches, which might be an indication that management might want to adjust the structure of the segments. The crowd was more or less indifferent to anything that these two did for the first twenty minutes of the match because it became more about waiting for the surprise Roman Reigns return than anything else. That being said, when Roman showed up, it was one of the loudest reactions I've ever heard at a live show and it will probably be remembered as a career-defining moment for him. All things considered, his baby face run might be even more profitable than the historic heel run he had as champion. After Reigns decided to even the odds, Cody retained the championship.

Overall, it was a fun experience. Granted, this pay-per-view was about the angles, not the action, but it's often said that pro wrestling is about the moments and this event definitely had a few very memorable moments for sports entertainment history.